"Elbow Room" re-edited

While I was at the airport today waiting for the plane containing my wife and kids to take off, I sat down at a café and re-edited "Elbow Room." Lots of good stuff there, but it definitely could use some work, mainly in the areas of characterization and believability of some scenes/events. Overall, the story itself is sound, and I think it'll definitely be publishable when all is said and done. I hope to work on rewrites and additions for it tomorrow. I'll either work on that or "Sinking NeoVenice" or both, depending on what other errands I need to run.

Fortunately, these are both things I can do on the run if I remember to take my notebook with me and printed-out drafts of the stories. I'm trying to develop the habit of working anywhere I am, or wherever I can grab a few spare moments. This helps make sure my workflow stays consistent. I'm not the best at this, but I think I am getting better.

"Sinking NeoVenice" Zeroth Draft done

The story's finally reached an end. My zeroth draft is done (otherwise known as the "down draft" where you just try to get everything down). 

Next: the first draft (otherwise known as the "Up" draft, where I try to fix everything up) (these terms courtesy of Anne Lamott in "Bird by Bird")

I'm pretty stoked that the story finally got wrapped up. I'll admit I was at a loss over how to end the thing, but I took some advice I read somewhere which essentially said that the beginning of a story will often tell you how it's going to end. So, I went back to the beginning of this story, read it through, and eventually figured out how it should end. Maybe a little weird, I know, but it worked for me. 

It's Off!

I just launched "Woman is Cipher is Woman" off into the void, to either be published or rejected (and then sent back out again). I sent it to a pulp sci-fi mag called "Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine," a publication I've admired for quite a while. This will be my fourth sub to them so far.

They have an interesting slush pile process, by the way. Three rounds of readers read each submission. If the first round of readers likes it, then the sub makes it to the next round, and so on. Something that makes it to the third round usually gets published, but not always. I've had a story make it to the third round before, but other stuff I've sent since hasn't cleared the first round.

I also like the nice helpful comments I get back from these guys. Very helpful and no form letters in sight. Last, and very important: they accept e-submissions--important for a guy who lives overseas.

I'll keep everyone informed as to the progress of this story.

Finished editing "Woman is Cipher"

After working last night 'till 1:00 a.m. and then this morning after I got up, I'm pretty much done with my final edits to 'Woman is Cipher" 

Now I've just got to make a decision where I want to send it for publication. More on that subject later. 

Editing "Woman is Cipher is Woman"

Okay, right now I've got Scrivener open and am working on my final edit for "Woman is Cipher is Woman." Wow, I've been working on this particular story now for around two years, but it's gone through a lot of iterations since the beginning. Also, I haven't been working on it steadily, either. I think I laid it aside for around a year or so after I initially finished it. One of my readers suggested that I drag it out of mothballs and so I did. It basically resembles the original, except with some major revisions. Anyway, after this last round of edits, I'll send it out and hopefully get it published!

This post courtesy of the cool Blogger Dashboard widget

I'm writing this post via the nifty Blogger Dashboard widget (available for the Mac OS X Dashboard app). It should make posting faster and more convenient in some ways. Anyway, we'll see

Busy, busy, busy...

Okay, I'm pretty busy right now. At the moment, I'm working on three different short stories in various stages. I've got "Woman is Cipher is Woman" in final draft phase after getting it back from my readers. I'm also trying to finish my first draft for "Sinking NeoVenice" and am working up the zero draft for a short story that I'm tenatively calling "Firewater."

My plan is submit the first two for publication and the last will be turned into a screenplay for a short film a friend of mine is doing.

So lots of stuff going on.